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A. Types of Halogenoalkanes

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    Halogenoalkanes are also called haloalkanes or alkyl halides. All halogenoalkanes contain a halogen atom - fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine - attached to an alkyl group. There are three different kinds of halogenoalkanes: Primary, secondary and tertiary.

    Primary halogenoalkanes

    In a primary (1°) halogenoalkane, the carbon which carries the halogen atom is only attached to one other alkyl group. Some examples of primary halogenoalkanes include:

    primary.GIF

    Notice that it doesn't matter how complicated the attached alkyl group is. In each case there is only one linkage from the CH2 group holding the halogen to an alkyl group. There is an exception to this. CH3Br and the other methyl halides are often counted as primary halogenoalkanes even though there are no alkyl groups attached to the carbon with the halogen on it.

    Secondary halogenoalkanes

    In a secondary (2°) halogenoalkane, the carbon with the halogen attached is joined directly to two other alkyl groups, which may be the same or different. Examples:

    secondary.GIF

    Tertiary halogenoalkanes

    In a tertiary (3°) halogenoalkane, the carbon atom holding the halogen is attached directly to three alkyl groups, which may be any combination of same or different. Examples:

    tertiary.GIF

    Contributors

    Jim Clark (Chemguide.co.uk)


    This page titled A. Types of Halogenoalkanes is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jim Clark.

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